Here are all the guns that charges say suspect brought to assassination

According to a lifelong friend, Vance Boelter knew his way around guns and expressed an interest in weapons from a young age.

Federal prosecutors say that when Boelter, charged with murder and attempted murder in connection with the shootings of two state legislators and their spouses, fled, he left behind five guns including semiautomatic “assault-style” rifles in his SUV.

Also found in the vehicle, which was decked out to resemble a police car, was “a large quantity of ammunition organized into loaded magazines,” according to the federal criminal complaint.

In addition, a 9-millimeter semiautomatic handgun and at least three magazines were found strewn on the ground a few blocks from where state Rep. Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark, were fatally shot in their Brooklyn Park residence.

At the time of his arrest late Sunday, Boelter had an unspecified gun on him, according to law enforcement.

There is no law banning Boelter’s accumulation of weaponry over the last 25 years. Up to this week, he had no criminal history beyond a speeding ticket and a handful of parking violations.

Court records don’t show him having ever been subject to an Extreme Risk Protection Order, also known as a “red flag” law, that could have prevented him from having the guns. Enacted in January 2024, the order allows law enforcement or family members to petition courts to temporarily remove firearms from individuals at risk of harming themselves or others.

Rob Doar, senior vice president of the Minnesota Gun Owners Caucus and a gun-rights advocate, reviewed photos of weapons in the federal criminal complaint against Boelter and saw what appeared to be semiautomatic “civilian-legal” variants.

“Whether purchased through a dealer or private party,” Doar said, “their acquisition in Minnesota would have required either a permit to purchase or carry and compliance with state and federal transfer regulations.”

Charges in Hennepin County District Court noted Boelter “is the listed purchaser for at least four of the recovered firearms.”

David Carlson, Boelter’s Minneapolis roommate a few days a week and a friend since grade school in Sleepy Eye, Minn., said the two of them “thought guns and weapons were cool. As children, we were like that, and it kind of stuck with us.”

Carlson said he saw that Boelter had a few guns and “was kind of like the gun type. I didn’t think they were automatic ones.”

“I thought Vance was so incapable of using those weapons on people,” he said. “I trusted him so much that I lived with him. The weapons I saw were normal weapons, a couple handguns. I know he went to the shooting range.”

Kipp Trebesch Jr., president of the Green Isle Sportsman’s Club, said he checked both records and cameras, and Boelter had never visited there.

“It’s a small community,” he said of Green Isle. “Everybody knows everybody, but I can’t say anybody’s actually really ever talked to the guy.”